REVIEW: Guilty Gear Strive

Guilty gear Strive was the best fighting game I have ever played in a while. Arc System Works' new high-speed, anime-inspired 1-on-1 fighting game in 2D is one of the best available. Its painful lobby system is the only thing that hinders it.

Strive has either consolidated or removed many of its predecessors systems in terms of their mechanical depth. Your "normals", or basic attacks, don't link as well as they used to. There's no Blitz Shield, Force Breaks, or Slashbacks like in other titles. Frame data is not affected by instant blocking. Throws no longer require air techs or dead angles. Animations can be started up and stopped in two frames, instead of one.

This is a lot of jargon, which will not be very helpful to those who are just starting to learn the genre. The path to competence is much shorter. There are fewer mechanisms to learn, so once the basics are understood, you can concentrate on improving your decision-making skills and execution.

Guilty Gear Strive is a close cousin to Accent Core and Xrd. It is clearly Guilty gear. The game's over-the-top aesthetic, and excessive amounts of text on the screen make this obvious. You might not like the lack of detail and difficult execution that previous Guilty gear entries had. The game is still accessible and emphasizes creativity, quick decisions, and the expanded Roman Cancel system.

Roman Cancels are a key feature of Guilty gear games. You spend half your super meter to have the ability to stop any animations you're currently doing. This was in the Xrd series, along with a screen freeze. Strives' had a hitbox that could hit your opponent and the ability for you to reposition yourself while the foe is stuck in the time.

Guilty Gear Strave is accessible more than its predecessors, but that doesn't mean new players can compete with veteran players. The Guilty gearformula has been updated to make it easier for people who are familiar with fighting games to get into this series, which is known for its many mechanics. It's easier to understand situations because all options are very visual. You will know which moves have an advantage because the game will literally shout "counter" every time you are blown up for mashing.

The game is fun and enjoyable. It also runs on Rollback Netcode so that you can play with people from other places. It's nice and all, but if you don't want to play with other people, you won't find much here. There is an arcade mode, and a story mode lasting four hours. This is basically a CG animation. It's funny and dumb, but not really groundbreaking. You'd be better off looking at Wiki pages or Youtube videos if you are interested in the series' history than you reading through all the charts and documents in-game.

Guilty gear Strive'scracks really are with its paltry alternate modes and mind-boggling lobby. After you've delved into the story and mission mode, all that's left is to play matches. To play these matches, you must go online.

You need to enter this lobby filled with Habbo characters in order to get into matchmaking. To start a game you must walk to one of these setups and wait for someone to approach you. This is three steps too long. While other games require you to go into a casual or ranked queue, Guilty gear allows you to platform to your match. Quick Match does not have this feature. You can also see the character of your opponent but not their connection once you find a match. This allows you to avoid match-ups that aren't good for you on the ranked ladder, but you cannot dodge those with poor internet. The net-code is amazing, but the matchmaking system isn’t. I have spent far more time wrestling in the lobbies than actually participating in matches.

The game is amazing when you actually get to play. It's horrible to play against any of the cast members, even the mirror match. That's a wonderful thing.